What are cry rooms in Japan?

What do you do when your child suddenly becomes hungry in the public and starts creating a scene disturbing the general peace of the public life? Or if your toddler needs to relieve themselves and requires an immediate change? In Japan, managing a child has never been easier without stressing yourself out. All you need is your child’s hygiene and food kit on you and rest you can leave it completely to the cry rooms in Japan. These public spaces ensure efficient child management without creating any disturbances around.

How are cry rooms a crucial part of social support in Japan?

Unlike the name, cry rooms are not for crying. It is a place to take a moment’s pause and clean or freshen up your child. A family –friendly area built for public use, it is used to feed a child- breastfeeding or bottle feeding. You can also calm down the child without disturbing the general public or creating a scene. Moreover, they are halt stops to clean the baby or just simply take a power nap when handling a baby becomes too difficult.

Cry rooms are a constant in places like train stations, departmental stores and malls, airports and major tourist attractions, theatres, concert halls and other venues of entertainment. Sometimes, cry rooms in entertainment or religious venues also have such sound amenities where they can be inside the cry rooms and yet listen to all that is happening outside without missing out on anything.

A cry room usually comprises certain features like chairs or nursing booths, diaper changing tables, hot water dispenser for making formula, trash bins, play area, and soundproof windows. It provides the much-needed secluded area to get things done easily, quickly and comfortably without having to feel embarrassed or overwhelmed in public.

If you are still wondering why the unusual name ' cry rooms' then it comes from the instances where earlier parents used to take their crying babies to a secluded area to calm them down. Since the purpose pretty much remains the same even today, the name has been retained since generations.

Japan is a country which respects and values privacy and public decorum to a great extent. Their public etiquettes are so built that one doesn’t disturb the other person. Thus, cry rooms are a great way to manage your personal needs without disrupting the social harmony of the people. Moreover, it is a way of supporting the parents to take care of their children, when an emergency arrives in the public. Hence, even if the name sounds difficult, the actual context is a family-friendly amenity for parents.

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